2016 combo guard Shamorie Ponds commits to St. John's

2016 combo guard Shamorie Ponds has committed to St. John's.

The Brooklyn, New York native will be traveling over to the neighboring borough of Queens to play college ball as the much-anticipated decision was made on Tuesday afternoon.

Ponds, the third-best prospect in the state of New York per 247Sports, selected the Red Storm over fellow Big East members Creighton and Providence as well as the Minnesota Golden Gophers of the Big Ten Conference.

St. John's had long been speculated to be the front runner for the 2016 combo guard's services. This dated all the way back to the Under Armour Elite 24 event in Ponds' hometown of Brooklyn back in August, where at one time it was thought that Ponds may wind up committing during the event. While he wound up not announcing his intentions there, this wound up being a case of, "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

With Kassoum Yakwe enrolling and waiting for his eligibility status to be revealed for the 2015-16 season, Ponds becomes the first commit for Chris Mullin's 2016 recruiting class. It's a heck of a haul, and we'll now likely see the Johnnies turn their attention to the top prospect in The Empire State, Christ The King shooting guard Rawle Alkins, to hopefully propel St. John's back up the ladder in the Big East Conference.